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3.
Quick Facts:
B. Human Costs
1. 50 million people died (compared to
15 million in WWI)
• 21.3 million Russians (7.7 million civilians)
• 11 million died as a result of the HOLOCAUST
(6 million Jews + 5 million others)

6.
• “He who wants to live must fight, and he who
does not want to fight in this world, where
eternal struggle is the law of life, has no right
to exist.”
» Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
» Adolf Hitler

7.
The Rise of Dictators
• Ruthless people rose to power in the 1920’s and 1930’s
• Some Europeans resented terms of Treaty of Versailles
– Germans had to take full responsibility of WWI
– Pay billions of dollars in reparation to allies
– Disarm completely
– Give up all overseas colonies and some territory in Europe
– Carved up Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires to create
several European countries (borders were later disputed)
– League of Nations was part of the Treaty

16.
• Established totalitarian rule
– A single party and its leader suppress all opposition and
control all aspects of people’s lives
• Believed Germans had a right to expand its territory,
needed lebensraum -living space
• Rebuilt Germany’s military- going against the treaty
• Made an alliance with Italy to support his expansion
plans

18.
Italy
• Benito Mussolini
– Appealed to those who felt they had not won enough
from the Treaty of Versailles
– Made fascism popular in Italy
• Control over a country’s economic and political system
– His fascist party became so strong he forced the king
of Italy to declare him ruler of the government

19.
– He banned all political parties but fascism
– Ended all democratic rule, no civil liberties or free
press
– Children were enrolled in military organizations, taught
loyalty to regime
– Began attacking and annexing neighboring lands,
Ethiopia, Albania…withdrew from the League of
Nations

21.
Japan
• Japanese grew frustrated during the depression
• Military leaders rose to power in the 1930’s
• These leaders thought they could solve Japan’s
problems by expanding their power into Asia
• 1931 attacked Manchuria, China
• League condemned the act, but took no action
• Slowly took over most of China
• 1940 signed a pact of alliance with Germany and Italy
to form the “Axis”

24.
Soviet Union
• Late 1920’s Joseph Stalin rose to power
• Communist leader
• Demanded complete obedience from his people
• Got his through force
• Executed rivals and those thousands suspected of
supporting his rivals
• Sent millions to Russian labor camps
• Reorganized nations economy, forcing millions to
work on government owned farms

27.
The United States of America
• Most Americans wanted to avoid involvement
in foreign affairs
• Congress passed Neutrality Acts between
1935 and 1937
– Banned the sale of weapons to nations at war
– Restricted trade to nations on a cash only basis
(WWI debt from European countries remained
unpaid)

28.
Hitler Begins
• Rhineland
– March 1936 Begins march
– German territory west of the Rhine River
– Considered a neutral zone by the treaty
– German soldiers prohibited in area
– France and Britain protested, but did nothing else

29.
• Sudetenland (area of Czechoslovakia)
– Many German speaking people lived here
– Falsely claimed these people were being
persecuted
– Czechs did not want to be annexed; Britain &
France sought peaceful solution
– Leaders of Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain
met in Munich

65.
Potsdam Conference:
July, 1945
FDR dead, Churchill out of office as Prime
Minister during conference.
Stalin only original.
The United States
has the A-bomb.
Allies agree Germany
is to be divided into
occupation zones
Poland moved P.M. Clement President Joseph
Atlee Truman Stalin
around to suit
the Soviets.

66.
The Manhattan Project:
Los Alamos,
NM
I am become
Major General
Lesley R. Groves death,
the shatterer
Dr. Robert
Oppenheimer of worlds!